480v Panel With No Disconnecting Means

[RYAN855]

I am currently working in a hospital where a 480V 3 phase main lug only panel is located on the first floor. The panel is fed from a switchgear in the basement, and I am wondering if there are any exceptions to the within 50ft or plain sight disconnect rule. It seems dangerous to all of us working on the 277V lighting circuits.

 

[iwire]

The panel is fed from a switchgear in the basement, and I am wondering if there are any exceptions to the within 50ft or plain sight disconnect rule.

There is no NEC requirement for a panel to have a disconnecting means within sight.

It seems dangerous to all of us working on the 277V lighting circuits.

It is almost always an OSHA violation for you to open the panel while it live.

 

[iwire]

Here is the OSHA Standard

1910.333(a)(1)

"Deenergized parts." Live parts to which an employee may be exposed shall be deenergized before the employee works on or near them, unless the employer can demonstrate that deenergizing introduces additional or increased hazards or is infeasible due to equipment design or operational limitations. Live parts that operate at less than 50 volts to ground need not be deenergized if there will be no increased exposure to electrical burns or to explosion due to electric arcs.


Note 1: Examples of increased or additional hazards include interruption of life support equipment, deactivation of emergency alarm systems, shutdown of hazardous location ventilation equipment, or removal of illumination for an area.


Note 2: Examples of work that may be performed on or near energized circuit parts because of infeasibility due to equipment design or operational limitations include testing of electric circuits that can only be performed with the circuit energized and work on circuits that form an integral part of a continuous industrial process in a chemical plant that would otherwise need to be completely shut down in order to permit work on one circuit or piece of equipment.


Note 3: Work on or near deenergized parts is covered by paragraph (b) of this section.

Now if your work fits one of the examples that allow you to work in a live panel you must be suited up in the appropriate personal protective equipment.

It would seem to me that a Hospital would have a safety director that would know of these requirements.